TBR's Xmas gift update!

Just wanted to take a minute to thank Braves and Freddy for the OUTSTANDING job that they did on Saturday. Thanks to all the college players, coaches and MLB players (past and present) that volunteered their time to make it a great event. It was also great to finally meet some of the TBR members and to be able to match names and faces. The food was awesome and if anyone left hungry it was their own fault.
Britt wanted me to add that meeting David Mailman took a little of the sting out of losing the homerun derby. At least he lost to one of his good friends from back home...Go Fayetteville!
A great day of baseball and fellowship. If any of you are in the Fayetteville area let me know and we can get together...maybe we can take in a game.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all........Go Sox!

 

Update

Braves, give us an update on the day. Boys that impressed etc. Hope you had a great time.

 

TBR's Xmas gift!!!

Wow, what a gift this event was. I don't know who enjoyed it more, the kids or the parents. As a parent, I know I enjoyed it from start to finish. If this is, or becomes an annual event, my son and I will be there ready to help out in any way we can. Of course, he will be more involved with the baseball side of things and I can help out with the food or something. I did get pretty good at chopping the pork.

This was a great experience for the kids and it was for a great cause. The ride from Clayton, NC was well worth it. By the way, my son Josh just wants to say that the rain made the ball heaver and that's why he didn't "show" in the home run derby. He says he is ready for next year though.

Thanks to everyone who made this great day possible!!!

 

You know Eighter, this would be very hard to say because it was like an All Star camp. Every single player that attended could play. I believe a comment that Freddy said is more revealing: "There were more talented players than he sees at most Showcase camps"...and I will definately concur with that. It would be impossible to do this for two reasons:

- It was not a showcase camp; it was an instructional camp
- There were too many excellent players that someone's name will be left off. Seriously, there were over 50 kids that potentially could play at college when their time comes. There were players attending that are already signed, then you had sophs that were easily projected.

But the two posters that posted in this thread, kooch and jdcat's son's surprised me (only because i have never seen their son's play before.

Kooch's son, Britt, was an animal at the plate. When I saw him hit, I had to make an effort to seek his dad out and tell him what I thought. He's a beast!

..and jdcat's son was the most surprising to me. When you look at a baseball player standing around, some players don't grab your attention. jd's son was one of those. He's not very big, but.... wow...when he gets in the batters box and swings: He's huge! How he generates his bat speed and power is god given. The young man has an electric bat.

I could go on and on about so many players like that. There was not one player that given an invitation, I would not have invited. But I hope the best part was the instructions these guys received.

Not only were they taught positional skills, but they were taught how to run the bases (a skill very much overlooked and cost many teams games) and went through some excellent agility skills that I hope they take with them and continue to apply. At every position, they were given tips how to play better---from OF's to INF's to Catchers and Pitchers. Each area had professional instructors that are some of the best. I know that many instructors took note of the players that caught their attention, but do you really want to know who those kids are? They were the one's that were listening and applying the skills that were taught. Those are the one's everyone was talking about.

Let me cite one example. There was one kid hitting that was not generating any power. He probably never had anyone work with him before. After one of the instructors spent 15 minutes with him demonstrating why he wasn't getting any power and how to correct it; the kid started to send rockets to the gap (and his smile and raised self esteem made the day worthwhile)

I know people want to know how everyone did, but for me, the purpose of the day was different. It was trying to give everyone personal attention and to offer advice in an area they need to work on as well as to encourage them in the areas they do well.

 

My son instructed at the event; and, I had my first opportunity since Saturday to talk at length with him about it today.

First of all, he couldn't say enough good things about the job the organizers had done to put it together. Braves, it sounds like you, Freddy, and the rest of the folks who put it on did a terrific job. When he told me this, it prompted a response from me that it's been the ongoing effort of the TBR moderating group et al that have done as much as any single group the last 10 years to help players achieve the next level; whatever level that might be for them.

He also talked about what fun he had doing it: working with and watching the players, catching up with old friends, and making new ones. In this great game of baseball, it's not just the game and the game-within-the-game. It's also the game-outside-the-game that helps make it so great..

Congratulations TBR baseball group! Another job very well done.

 

It would be tough to not have a good time with that group of personalities!